If You Thought ‘The Exorcist’ Was Scary, Wait Until You Hear The Film’s Original Score

Perhaps one of the greatest scary movies of all time, The Exorcist was a horror show before the film even made it to theaters. Several big Hollywood producers of the time turned it down (including Kubrick), the crew became sick with mysterious illnesses, and the toddler of one of the main actors was hit by a motorbike.

Many in the industry believed the film to be “cursed.”

Another setback to production was the fact that the film’s original score made people actually want to vomit. Composer Lalo Schifrin (who also wrote the Mission: Impossible theme) went all out for the original trailer music. The heaviness of the sounds combined with the intense flashing images allegedly caused viewers to run to the bathrooms.

You’ve been warned…here’s the original trailer for The Exorcist, which caused Warner Bros. to demand director William Friedkin fire Schifrin.

And here is more from Schifrin’s expertly creepy score.

Rumor has it that Friedkin was so distraught about the studio’s reaction that he took the audio reels and literally threw them out of the window. He decided then to use modern classical compositions to score his movie, most notably the track “Tubular Bells” by Mike Oldfield.